Topic 19: Organisms and Their Environment (IGCSE
Biology 0610)
19.1 Energy Flow
Core
1. Sun as Energy Source
o The Sun is the principal source of energy for all life on Earth.
o Plants (producers) capture sunlight and convert it into chemical energy via
photosynthesis.
2. Energy Flow in Organisms
o Light energy from the Sun is captured by producers.
o Transferred as chemical energy when organisms consume plants or other
organisms.
o Energy is used for life processes and eventually lost as heat to the environment.
19.2 Food Chains and Food Webs
Core
1. Food chain: Shows energy transfer from one organism to another, starting with a
producer.
2. Construct and interpret simple food chains.
3. Food web: A network of interconnected food chains.
4. Producer: Organism (usually plant) that makes its own food via photosynthesis.
5. Consumer: Gets energy by eating other organisms.
6. Consumers are classified as: primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary.
7. Herbivore: Eats plants only.
8. Carnivore: Eats animals only.
9. Decomposer: Gains energy from dead/waste organic matter.
10. Human impacts: Overharvesting and introducing foreign species disturb food webs.
11. Pyramids of numbers and biomass: Show population and total mass at each trophic
level.
12. Biomass pyramid is more accurate than number pyramid for energy representation.
13. Trophic level: Position of organism in food chain/web/ecological pyramid.
Supplement
14. Trophic levels include: producers, primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary
consumers.
15. Pyramid of energy: Shows energy content at each level (kJ/m^2/year).
16. Energy pyramid is most accurate for showing energy transfer.
17. Energy transfer is inefficient (~10%) due to heat loss, movement, waste, uneaten parts.
18. Food chains usually have <5 levels due to energy loss.
19. Eating plants is more energy-efficient for humans than eating animals fed on plants.
19.3 Nutrient Cycles
Core
1. Carbon Cycle includes:
o Photosynthesis
o Respiration
o Feeding
o Decomposition
o Formation of fossil fuels
o Combustion
Supplement
2. Nitrogen Cycle includes:
o Decomposition of proteins to ammonium ions
o Nitrification (NH4+ to NO2- to NO3-)
o Nitrogen fixation by lightning and bacteria
o Absorption of nitrates by plants
o Formation of amino acids and proteins
o Feeding and digestion
o Deamination
o Denitrification (NO3- to N2 gas)
3. Roles of microorganisms:
o Decomposers: Break down dead organisms
o Nitrifying bacteria: Convert NH4+ to NO3-
o Nitrogen-fixing bacteria: Convert N2 to usable nitrogen
o Denitrifying bacteria: Convert nitrates back to nitrogen gas
19.4 Populations
Core
1. Population: Group of same species in an area at the same time.
2. Community: All populations of different species in an ecosystem.
3. Ecosystem: Community and environment interacting as a unit.
4. Factors affecting population growth: food supply, competition, predation, disease.
5. Sigmoid curve phases:
o Lag
o Exponential
o Stationary
o Death
6. Interpret population growth graphs and sigmoid curves.
Supplement
7. Factors for each sigmoid phase:
o Lag: Adaptation, low numbers
o Exponential: Plenty of resources, rapid growth
o Stationary: Resource limits slow growth
o Death: Resources depleted, increased mortality